My Time Spent Among Millionaires
by hazel flatts
Summary: Natalie Minor's internship at KaibaCorp has turned into a full-time career...one that puts her in close, constant contact with the CEO himself. Her boyfriend doesn't trust Kaiba around her. But is there really anything that can keep them apart? KaibaXOC.
1. Elevator Examination

_Okay, as an intro... This is the first story I've ever written, so don't be too mean! But I really would appreciate some reviews, so if you read it, don't hesitate to tell me what you think. Rated M for the content of future chapters...hehehe._

_Obviously, none of the characters you recognize are owned by me. I just love love love all things Yu-Gi-Oh (particularly Kaiba), and that's why I'm writing this. Enjoy! :)_

He snapped his briefcase shut and pushed away from the table, quickly. He briskly walked to the door, then halted in the doorway and turned around, his cloak flaring out behind him. "Gentlemen, I can assure you it would be in all of your best interests to reconsider the choices you've made tonight. You might not be happy with what happens to your investments otherwise…" he snarled. The room was silent. He waited a few seconds, but no one responded; he then exited quickly, snapping the door shut behind him.

Friday night board meetings. How Seto Kaiba hated them. _Those fucking people don't know shit._ He had just presented his brilliant plan to them, a new idea he'd been working on for weeks. He'd compiled data, computed statistics, projected costs and predicted fiscal effects, only to hear the board say, "that seems a little risky."

Kaiba knew it would work. And he knew he would make it happen. After all, he was Seto Kaiba. He just hated that he had to run it by the board first. They made everything so much more difficult by disagreeing with him…

His shoes clicked on the tiles as he walked back down the hall from the conference room to his office. Hardly anyone was still there at 8:15 pm, but anyone who did pass Kaiba in the hall immediately averted their eyes. They hunched down and crept past him. But he wasn't paying attention anyway. He already knew everyone was scared out of their wits of him. He was particularly terrifying when he was angry, like he was now.

Kaiba stepped back into his own office and sat down at his desk, then saw the clock. _Oh shit, 8:17._ _Mokuba won't have known I had a meeting tonight._ He grabbed his briefcase and left the room.

XXX

I stared at my computer screen blankly. I'd been looking at these same numbers for days now, trying to write my report on which department could stand to lose a few personnel. This topic was proving to be harder than expected; looking at the raw numbers of each department alone, my own department really seemed to have more people working to do the same tasks than was necessary… But I didn't want to be personally responsible for getting anyone I knew fired.

Ugh. Maybe I'd just give these numbers another run tomorrow, at home. I was honestly too exhausted to do any more tonight. These crazy hours working for KaibaCorp were killing me.

There was no one else in the office when I stood in the doorway to leave. Looking over what seemed like miles and miles of cubicles, I realized how far I'd come in such a short time. I mean, just a few months ago I'd only been an intern here. My main responsibility then was making sure I knew how to make everyone's coffee the way they liked it.

And a few months before that, I'd been studying business and mathematics at university. Living here, in Domino City, was such a change from living on campus in the U.S. But honestly, it was the best change I'd ever made in my life. I had a great (though stressful) job, I had made some awesome new friends, and I was living on my own, in a foreign country, and loving it.

I flipped off the lights and headed for the elevator. After having pushed the button, I waited. The elevator was coming down from the top, from the 52nd floor.

When it got to my floor, and the doors opened, I saw a tall man with long brown hair standing there, wearing a long white cloak and carrying a small metal briefcase. I took one look at his ice blue eyes and knew who it had to be: Seto Kaiba himself. I'd never met him before, but I had heard enough stories to be totally freaked out and not want to go in the elevator at all, and enough physical descriptions by my female coworkers to know it had to be him. They raved about his piercing eyes, his cocky smirk… And looking at him now, I could definitely see where they were coming from. Not only was he terrifically handsome, he was tall, thin, and ridiculously wealthy. But I wasn't about to go all fangirl on him. If I didn't introduce myself, and we met again, he would probably remember me as that girl who awkwardly stood in the elevator with him for forty-one floors.

The doors shut behind me and I turned to face front, then looked at him…hesitantly. Okay. Introduce yourself in three, two, one…

"Mr. Kaiba." I inclined my head slightly in a bow, and turned towards him. Then he angled towards me a bit.

"I don't know you," he stated. His voice was deep and harsh, alluring.

I swallowed my fear and stuck out my hand. "Natalie Minor, sir. I work right under Seichi Takamatsu. Department of Finance, Risk Management, and Operations."

Now he turned all the way to face me. He took my hand and shook it. "You already know who I am. And you're Takamatsu's Deputy Director?"

I nodded. "Yep."

"I think I may have been scheduled to meet you a month or so ago. How recently did you get the job?" He spoke slowly, dragging out his words like he loved to hear the sound of his own voice.

"Yeah, a little over a month ago." I thought he maybe would have known something about me. Not to brag, but I really am pretty high up in this company. So now I knew why I hadn't met Kaiba until now. He blew off our first meeting.

My eyes met his, for the first time. His gaze actually gave me shivers.

"I've been meaning to reschedule that meeting…But I think now will do." He looked just above the elevator doors. "Thirty-three floors left. That's enough time."

Oh, fantastic… He was going to interrogate me now.

"How long have you worked here for?"

"Going on five months."

He raised an eyebrow. "What project are you working on now?"

"I'm writing a report on which department could stand to consolidate its tasks into fewer positions."

"You're telling us who to fire. Don't pussyfoot around it."

Kaiba was glaring, and I was definitely scared. "Okay. Yeah. I'm telling you what department could stand to lose a few people."

"They could all stand to lose a few, you're just telling me where the waste is costing us the most. Correct? So tell me what you've found."

I clenched up. I was definitely dooming a few people I knew to losing their jobs… But the way Kaiba looked at me made me afraid not to give an honest answer.

"Well, at first it looked like it would be Performance Management. You know, because their employee's average salaries are, statistically speaking, significantly higher than anyone else's. And they bring in outside consultants all the time, so… But then when I ran some more tests… It seems like it's Finance, Risk Management, and Operations. But by no means is anything final."

As I spoke, Kaiba had been looking at the floor. But when I said the name of my department, he looked back up. "Your department."

I backpedaled. "Well like I said, nothing's final. I still need to look at some of the expense reports from last quarter, and–"

"You know what the numbers say. It's your branch. If things weren't final, you just would have said you didn't know yet." He narrowed his eyes and looked at me, questioningly.

That wasn't entirely true… I mean, these expense reports could still show a whole different story. I said that to him.

He kind of grunted. I felt that this really wasn't going too well for me…

He continued with the questioning. "You've been promoted to a high position in my company in an extremely short time period. Why is that?"

Yikes. "I'm…good at what I do. I see patterns in numbers. I can apply my statistical knowledge to make decisions and advise my supervisors to take the best course of action based on the bare facts of what is best for the company, financially." Nailed it.

Kaiba snorted. "That sounds like the kind of garbage you'd memorize and spout out at a job interview."

I was taken aback. I mean, not only was that not true, it was a bitchy thing to say.

"Well. Isn't that sort of what this is? You're questioning me to see if I'm competent enough to be one of KaibaCorp's top financial advisors. What happens if you don't find me capable?" I asked.

He let out a small chuckle, which was a surprising reaction. "You would lose your job." He looked me in the eyes again, and I quailed. "But don't worry, Miss Minor. From what I've seen, you appear to be qualified."

Um, what? Was that it? "Uh, thank you. Sir… Interview over?"

He nodded, a smile in his eyes. "Interview over."

I could feel him staring at me as we waited in silence for the elevator to descend the last three floors.

_Now review this please, and I'll be really happy with you! :D_


	2. Becoming a Big Deal

_Sorry for taking so long to update! And sorry this chapter's not the most exciting thing. It just puts Natalie in a position where she'll soon be seeing a whole lot more of Kaiba and kind of moves things along. Look for some real action next chapter though!_

* * *

I wasn't particularly excited to come into work on Monday morning. The quarter was ending soon and there was still so much to do.

As I was riding the crowded elevator up, I thought back to my conversation with Kaiba last Friday. So weird…yet in some ways, it had gone better than I had originally thought it would. I mean yeah, Kaiba wasn't exactly great company. In fact, he was pretty much the biggest dick I'd ever met. But he was certainly more than pleasant to look at. Those eyes, that body…

Aaand that's when I started feeling guilty about Tom. My boyfriend. I always feel a little bit guilty when I think about other guys like that, even though I know it's completely innocent. This feeling was probably amplified by the fact that I'd literally been too busy this weekend to talk to him even once. It wasn't like I didn't miss him like crazy – I mean, the last time I'd even seen him in person was over five months ago. My demanding job and that time difference of thirteen hours were just making the whole situation really difficult.

I walked into the office and handed my stack of papers to Olivia, the receptionist. "Can you make sure these get to Mr. Takamatsu? He said he wanted them by 9:00, but I have to go get started on something else. So, when he comes in…?"

"Actually, Mr. Takamatsu won't be coming in today, Natalie." I had started to walk away, but then turned back around. Olivia had the phone to her ear. "I have a message that he's not to be expected, and that you're to go up to see the CEO as soon as you get in. It's from Elizabeth Sherling… Mr. Kaiba's personal assistant."

Uhhh, what? "I'm to see Kaiba?"

Olivia nodded. "That's what it sounds like."

I'm pretty sure I looked confused, and possibly a little freaked out, because Olivia then said, "Sorry honey, I really don't know what it's about."

"Hmm. Okay, thanks." I turned back around and headed for the elevators.

Ugh. Had Kaiba changed his mind? Was I really not qualified for my job? No. I knew I was. I mean, I'd been doing pretty awesome at it so far… Also, Seto Kaiba wouldn't need to fire me in person himself. He could just have had his assistant leave that message instead.

I stepped out of the elevators at the top of the KaibaCorp building. Up here everything looked much different from the comparably drab offices downstairs; the walls were lined with huge windows that let in massive amounts of light. And from up this high, the view of Domino City was absolutely amazing. The windows I looked out of faced east, so you could see almost the entire expanse of the city. The sun had only risen maybe half an hour ago, and the sky was still flooded with warm, orange light. The clouds were coated in light drapes of pink. I was mesmerized... But after a short while I started down the hall towards Kaiba's office.

There weren't too many people there this early, so it seemed like my heels were clicking really loudly on the floor. Anyone I did pass was dressed in expensive-looking business clothes and didn't seem to even notice me. The hallway didn't have any windows, which made it awfully dark, and the sound I made when I walked echoed off the walls and was almost oppressively loud. The hallway appeared to be unnecessarily long, which of course gave me plenty of time to think about whatever it might be that Kaiba wanted to see me for. But before I could come up with anything that was halfway reasonable, I reached the end.

By the time I got to Kaiba's office I was thoroughly confused. And right before I was about to knock, I heard someone start to yell inside.

"I don't know what to think, Seto! All I know is that Takamatsu disagrees with you on this one issue on Friday, and now he's gone! Listen…" whoever was speaking said something too quiet for me to hear. It kind of sounded like Rathbone, the Chief Financial Officer. And it would make sense for it to be him, from what I'd just heard. Rathbone and I had met briefly several times, only at company functions or galas. But his voice was very distinct; it had a nasally tone to it that wasn't totally cancelled out by its low pitch.

I thought I heard a lull in their conversation, and I had been told to come up here as soon as I got in…so I knocked.

"Come in," called Seto Kaiba.

I opened the door. Kaiba sat at his giant desk in front of a wall of huge glass window panes that stretched the entire expanse of the office. His office was…definitely bigger than my apartment, and full of sunlight. Rathbone sat in a chair in front of Kaiba's desk. They were scowling at each other. I stepped in, anxiously. It was scary in there! I mean they'd just finished yelling their heads off at each other like ten seconds ago. "I uh, I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"

Rathbone turned around in his chair and smiled. "Oh, no, no of course not." He was that kind of smarmy, fake charming guy, I remembered now. He stood up to shake my hand. "Miss Natalie Minor. I do believe we've met before, perhaps?" Uhh, yeah, only on like five separate occasions. "William Rathbone. I'm certain I've seen you about the office plenty of times."

I wasn't a big Rathbone fan, personally. He had always kind of put me off. He leered at some of the women in the office when they weren't looking… I'd never seen it happen to me, but who knows. And he insisted on smoking his big fat Cuban cigars in his office, so when anyone opened the door the smoke would flood out into the hall. People who knew him personally called him Billy. I wondered what Kaiba called him?

Legend has it (or rather, I'd heard from my coworkers) that Rathbone had been at KaibaCorp for what would soon be forty-five years. Which was over twice as long as Seto Kaiba had been alive. Billy Rathbone knew the company inside and out…and was the only one in the company Kaiba couldn't bully into doing what he wanted. Unconfirmed, of course, but that's what I had heard.

I smiled and nodded when he shook my hand. Bleh, gross. He had some seriously sweaty palms. I took the liberty of wiping my hands off on my skirt when he sat back down.

Kaiba definitely saw me do that; he smirked. He had been watching me since I stepped in the room…gauging my reaction to things? I wasn't sure. Now he stood up to shake my hand as well. Actually, it was probably a good thing he saw me wipe my palms; I wouldn't want him to think I had sweaty hands. Or that being around him made me sweat, even though…it kind of did.

I mean come on. I hadn't seen my boyfriend in _five months_. That means…no sex. In five months. And not to make things weird or anything, but I had led a pretty regular sex life before this long-distance relationship business. Like…I had gone from sixty to zero during my time in Domino City. And I of course knew that who I was really missing was Tom. But there was no way I could deny that Kaiba was hot. Smokin', even.

"Miss Minor." His eyes were shining…he was definitely in a good mood, for reasons I couldn't imagine. Because he was definitely pissed at Rathbone. So…what was this all about?

"For reasons I'm sure you just heard Mr. Rathbone here noting, your Department Director Seichi Takamatsu is no longer employed by KaibaCorp. As his Deputy Director, you are now the head of Finance, Risk Management, and Operations."

I was shocked. I mean, I had practically just become the deputy director, and now I was running the whole department? This was nothing short of amazing! Of course, Rathbone's expression when Kaiba said that was somewhat worrying…but whatever.

I tried to stay in control, but I couldn't stop myself from breaking into a huge grin. Fuck professionalism, this was incredible! Kaiba's eyes lit up all over again when he saw me smile. I could only assume he was silently laughing at my lack of compsure.

"Wow…thank you sir!" I looked back and forth at each of them excitedly, unsure of whom I should really be addressing.

Rathbone frowned when he looked at me, and said, "Yes, well. It is an honor. Especially with you being so young and inexperienced…"

Kaiba looked at him, eyes narrowed, and said, "I'll remind you that I am only two years older than Miss Minor. Age is no bar to professional success. It is ability that makes us all capable of doing our jobs, Mr. Rathbone."

I was somewhat disturbed by the dynamic these two had. It was weird seeing them interact, for reasons I wasn't sure I understood. It might have had something to do with the way it looked like Kaiba had some respect for this man. He was tactfully disagreeing with him rather than outright insulting him. Also, I had heard Kaiba called "Seto" when I was standing outside the door, but Kaiba would only call the CFO "Mr. Rathbone."

Despite Kaiba's polite, only mildly threatening response, Rathbone was livid. He looked personally insulted. "I'll be leaving now." He stood up. "Natalie, you'll be meeting me in my office later. We have things to discuss."

I moved out of his way as he walked by and slammed the door behind him.

Kaiba was drumming his fingers on his desk. "Have a seat," he said, gesturing at the chair Rathbone had vacated.

* * *

_Yes, Natalie does have a boyfriend! Someone messaged me saying they didn't like that... But you'll see soon enough that it really just makes it all the more interesting. ;)_

_Review, please!_


	3. A Very Kaiba Day

_Hey, looks like I'm updating this story again! How about that. Ha._

_I felt like writing more of this and actually wrote __one big long chapter, then split it up into two. This one and the next. So, enjoy, I suppose! And there's more to come this time, actually. :)_

___

* * *

_

I took a seat of course, because Kaiba had told me to. He was sitting back in his chair, a relaxed position, but his eyes were dark and brooding. You could almost see his mind racing out of control behind those eyes, focused but restless. However a few seconds later, he sat up straight. Something more than a change of posture had just occurred. It was like...like he had settled the storm inside his head and decided it was once again time for business.

Then he spoke, "We've only met briefly in the past. Unfortunately, I'm just going to have to assume that you'll have the sense to cooperate with my plans for this company. I don't know exactly how intelligent you are, though at this point I'm just shooting for little more than brainless. What we're going to be doing here is really rather important..."

Oh... Fuck you, Seto Kaiba. I had forgotten how goddamn insulting you are. I thought I had already proven my intellect to him. But yeah, not at all.

I said that to him. "I would have thought you'd have some measure of my intelligence by now. I mean, why promote me otherwise?"

"Your promotion is a matter of circumstance and nothing more. You were the best option open to me." That smirk was coming back. But I was having none of it.

"You said earlier that 'age is no bar to professional success.' When you were defending me in front of Rathbone," I semi-sternly reminded him.

He chuckled darkly, which I realize seems like an oxymoron, but there really isn't any other way to describe it. "I was referring to my own achievements, Miss Minor." He then sighed. "But yes, Rathbone did not want you to have control of the department. Surely you noticed that?" He raised his eyebrows, though his long bangs obscured most of the movement.

I shuffled nervously in my chair. I saw him take notice of that, too. "Yes, that's the impression that I got."

"So, uh... What exactly is going on here?"

He looked down his nose at me. "That's not really for you to know yet." Then he stood up and walked over to the windows that lined his office walls.

"I have ideas that can change the face of this company. Ideas that can change the world." He paused. "But it's been difficult, to say the least. I need people in my company who understand why this needs to be done. People who can see…why I do what I do."

His voice was full of passion, and though I could only see the back of his head, I had a picture of his face in my mind: eyes clear and hard, looking directly into the sun as it rose.

He sat back down and hunched over. "I can only hope that you'll be one of those people." He paused again and took a deep breath.

"Come back later, I guess. Right now, I have work to do." He waved me out of his office, rather rudely.

I walked over to the door and opened it, then turned around. "Thanks again for the promotion, Mr. Kaiba. Even if it was your only option."

Kaiba looked up at me for a second, then shifted his focus back to the stacks of paper on his desk. I thought for a second I had glimpsed some hope in those deep blue eyes.

"You really need to leave now."

Oh. Yeah, just kidding.

* * *

He went back to work as soon as he heard the latch of his office door click shut. But his thoughts kept getting interrupted by quick flashes of _her_, among other things.

She was an odd little thing, that Natalie Minor. Clearly terrified of him at times, but not afraid to tell him off if she was trying to save her own hide. Probably talented enough to make a decent department director. It was funny, the way he felt when he was around her. All the little things she did were just so interesting… Her difficulty with keeping her composure being the most amusing of them. Her nervous tics were another; she had crossed and uncrossed her legs at least five times during their conversation. That was something he would need to fix; he felt an inexplicable need for her to feel comfortable around him.

He shook his head. _Focus…_

Kaiba leaned his elbows on his desk, put his fingers to his temple and pushed, hard. It didn't usually take this much for him to concentrate on work. But things had been different lately. Running this company had become more strenuous than ever, and the stress was finally taking its toll…

He pushed harder, driving all other thoughts out of his brain, and went back to work.

* * *

It was the end of the day, and I was trying to stuff all of my papers into my tiny briefcase, but to no avail. They wouldn't fit. I should ask Kaiba where he got his fancy, shiny one. Ha. Though, he does carry a shitload of files around in that thing.

As I pondered my predicament, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. It was Ayumi, my neighbor down the hall and, I suppose, my closest friend here in Domino. I took the call.

"Hey. What's goin' on?"

"Not a whole lot, Nat! Just calling to see if you were up for going out tonight?" Ayumi was pretty big on partying and such.

I was in a pretty decent mood. All in all, work hadn't been too stressful today. And going out with Ayumi was always fun; she knew the best bars in town. "Yeah sure, why not?"

"Yay!" she squealed. "Alright, so tonight there's this party someone from work's throwing at their apartment. She asked me to come, sort of forced me into it a little bit, but I think it'll be fun!"

That sounded good. If there's one thing I hadn't done enough of while here in Japan, it was meet people. Outside of work.

"Oh, and dress hot! Because judging by some of the guys that stop by work to see her, she's got some sexy friends..." She trailed off and giggled at the end of her sentence. Ayumi did that a lot. She actually worked at one of the main news stations in Domino as a weathergirl. That was part of what made going out with her fun I think, seeing all the people who recognize her off the news when she's totally wasted.

I just smiled and sighed. "Ayumi, you know I've got Tom."

She laughed. "I know, I know. You can still be my wingwoman though! Help me score somebody good tonight, puhlease!" She paused, and then tittered again. "Okay, that sounded really desperate. There we go, I need you to keep me from coming off desperate!"

"Yeah don't worry, I'll come. Sounds like fun. What time are we gonna go?"

"I'm thinking we'll head over at like nine, so don't worry about working late or anything, 'kay?"

"'Kay. Meet you at yours at nine."

Just as I hung up, the door to my office swung open. In the doorway stood Seto Kaiba, that briefcase in hand. Of course he didn't knock.

"Uh, hi Mr. Kaiba," I said as he glanced at his watch. "To what do I owe the… Well, why are you here?"

He folded his arms. "It's six o'clock. We have business to discuss, and I'm rather hungry. Grab your coat and briefcase."

What a boss. He sure knew how to make you feel like you're being ordered around. "Right, okay." I walked around to the other side of my desk and pushed down on my briefcase with all my weight. Of course the little fucker still wouldn't close. _Stop embarrassing me!_ I shouted, in my head. At my briefcase.

I turned back around, and Kaiba was standing right there, holding my coat, which he had grabbed off the rack, in one hand. "Here you are. May I…?"

"What?" I asked, nervous for a second. Without waiting for a real answer, he outstretched his other hand, and _somehow_ (magic, surely) snapped my briefcase shut.

I shrugged my coat onto my shoulders and followed him out the door. As we headed towards the elevators, I couldn't help but ask, "Kaiba, where exactly are we going?"

"To dinner," he stated plainly.

He turned and stopped on the spot, waiting, as always it seemed, for me to catch up.


End file.
